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Laurie The DJ's Daughter's review
Ken McKnight's review
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The show details.

1. Motorcycle Mama
2. Powderfinger
3. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
4. I Believe In You   [electric]
5. Unknown Legend   [electric]
6. Fool For Your Love
7. You And Me
8. Buffalo Springfield Again
9. Razor Love
10. Daddy Went Walkin'
11. Peace Of Mind
12. Walk On
13. Winterlong
14. Bad Fog Of Loneliness
15. Words (Between The Lines Of Age)
16. Harvest Moon
17. All Along The Watchtower
18. Tonight's The Night   [on piano]
    Encore
19. Like A Hurricane
    Second Encore
20. Mellow My Mind

I've gotta say, I AM GUSHING! LAH was orgasmic, Harvest Moon was romantic, Tonight's The Night was heavy duty, Walk On had me dancing in front of all the sit-downers, and I think I saw Neil's belt get hard during I Believe in You. No, really.

You guys shoulda heard the completely different harp solo during Harvest Moon. Heart-stopping, it was. And check Neil's voice singing "and sing a song in a shaky shaky voice..." Ahhhhh! Watchtower had Jimi rocking and rolling in his grave, and Winterlong was tight as hell. As was You And Me and EKTIN. During Piece Of Mind I just sat and swayed, staring intently into Neil's face, studying his expressions. My God! he was into that song tonight!

I can't tell you what an honor it was to be lucky enough to experience something a little different than the norm for this tour. There were so many surprises tonight -- my favorite being Fool For Your Love because I can't remember ever hearing that song before. For me it was like a new song. You And Me was absolutely breathtaking. Another guitar-Neil moment.

I have a feeling that this show will go down into history. It totally RE-affirmed my complete admiration for the man and his music.

And Neil was in SUCH a great mood tonight. He said hi to the "Tree People" who he said must be hiding out in the trees surrounding the venue. And he talked a whole lot more in general. Including a comment about how awesome the Boise crowd was a few shows ago.

Well, I can't say enough about this show. I'll let some other LA-Rustie give a try at capturing all our emotions. Thanks Neil for a super time! And thanks Greek Theater for letting me upgrade my seat to a section A-middle, fifth row seat. Good Lord!

Oh yeah! Let's see...Astrid's hair was way bigger tonight. She wore the same tight baby blue dress as she did last night. Pegi wore a slinky black dress with an ornament on the front. Neil wore white shorts, sandals, and a black t-shirt. I couldn't tell what was on the t-shirt though. His belt hung down next to his left hip. I think he only wore his straw hat during Daddy Went Walking, but I can't remember for sure.

After the show was over, I ran up to Rick and Arnold who had snaked seats up close. Rick was in row 1 even! Arnold pointed out Nils Lofgren to me and I went right up to him. I waited just a moment, and then touched his shoulder and said, "Nils? If my dad knew I was standing next to you here he would want me to say hello." He smiled and thrusted his hand out and said, "Well, then tell your dad hello for me!" Then he laughed and I laughed, and we shook hands, and I said thanks and went on out.

And, another thing that could only happen in LA: the woman who played Carla on Cheers (Rita Pearlman is it?) was sitting just behind me a couple of rows. She walked by with some snacks and I said "hi!" She said Hi back and smiled! Cool huh? And everyone knows that Jack Nicholson was sitting next to Rick last night. I also spotted an actor who's been in a lot of movies, but in supporting and extra roles only, so I couldn't remember his name either. What will happen on Thusday!?

Good Night.
The DJ's Daughter

I couldn't find anyone I was looking for before the show. My Rustie emails to meet up with all the information superhighway hitchhikers went for naught as the wife and I looked all over for banners and faces. Must have been my fault or else I was a bit too anxious to see Neil after four years.

We spent a good hour though talking "Neil shop" with some Bikers from Ventura. Great people, typical of what you'd find outside on the picnic tables. I offered tequila, they offered beer. We toasted the balmy LA night and the thickening crowd that was brewing outside the Greek. The vibe was good except for the T-shirt prices: a whopping $40.00. Today (the next day) on the web the same shirt was on-sale for $16.99. You tell me why!

The Pretenders were right on time for the 7:30 start. Chrissy was Chrissy and did her tongue in cheek poking at the crowd below her. She moved like the sultry singer she is. The crowd went wild with each song, and there were many. Chain Gang was my favorite. She did the stage kissing to Neil and the obligatory "Okay Rockers" with the crowd. Everyone loved it. What really hit home was her many references to the missing Pretenders who died at their own hands. The Pretenders were in tune. She closed with Needle And The Damage Done. Enough said.

Neil came on about 8:50 dressed about the same as the rest of the tour. The others, well, Pegi and Astrid were slinky smooth, Ben "Long Grain" Keith appeared with a straw-type hat, Keltner (who Neil laughingly said rents a drum kit at each location) was very mysterious looking, Duck Dunn casual as always (he is a great act in himself, good style), and Spooner off to the side, surrounded by keyboards of all types, very low key. And then, well, Neil's Neil and that's that.

I counted 3 "How ya doin'?"s Over the course of the evening. He seemed much more talkative than I have ever heard him in my thirty years of seeing him live. He seemed to thrive on the LA crowd, which was complete with Hollywood types, middle agers, misfits, aging hippies, young stoners, drunks of all varieties, and me. All sitting there staring, screaming, and getting off on Neil and his music.

The Music: It was all good. I heard nothing I didn't like. The set list was pretty much the same as it has been for this tour, except for the song Fool For Your Love. I thought I'd pretty much heard it all, but this caught me by surprise. Great bluesy up-tempo song that the band carried well. It was a nice treat to go with the meal. The rest well, my personal highlights would have to be:

• EKTIN -- So funky, so melodic. My wife laughed at me for gettin' up and dancin' -- until she started dancin' herself. Great rendition.

• You And Me -- This song opens like so many others Neil does. You could almost interchange them. But it's the words that drift on the harmonies that the group carried that were as sweet as syrup on hotcakes for a little kid.

• Walk On -- This song drives it home. Long may we all run.

• Words -- A showstopper. Unless you hear it live, you cannot appreciate how insane this version is. Whatever possessed Neil to drag this out of his closet, dust it off, present it to the Music In Head band, and hold it up for all of us to savor? I'm keeping this on my top ten list of live songs. Forever.

• All Along The Watchtower -- Wow. This drove us like a train. I wish he had done this as an encore instead of Like A Hurricaine. Dylan must be proud.

• TTN -- I was surprised how this followed AATW. Neil scrambled for the piano, even moving the keyboards for Spooner himself, like he couldn't wait to start the song. And then the tinkle of the bridge, and Duck's base line, and the whole vibe of the song with Neil pumping his arms like a mad locomotive, or the signal to Keltner to start the downbeat. This song is about emotion, and the crowd was driven to sing along, and loud.

Kendog

(more reviews coming soon... --RE*AC*TOR)